本期原文

Mr Trump has lobbed his grenade as the WTO is already under strain. The collapse of the Doha round of trade talks in 2015, after 14 fruitless years, put needed reforms on hold indefinitely. Disputes that might have been swept into a new trade round have fallen to the WTO’s dispute-resolution machinery, which is too slow and too frail to carry the burden. The WTO has not kept pace with economic change. Investment is increasingly tied up in intangibles, such as patents and copyright, rather than physical assets, such as steel mills. Rules drafted for rich, market-led economies cannot always police state capitalism. The implicit subsidies China gives its producers were acause of global gluts in industrial metals. No wonder that the world’s second-biggest economy has been the focus of so much anger.

1: lob his grenade

lob : 向上抛投 : to throw something somewhere, especially over a wall, fence etc

例句1

Mr Stiglitz also said: "What Trump has done is thrown a hand grenade into international trade relationships, said... he's going to renegotiate even WTO and he's put a block in the reappointment of the judges in the WTO.

2: under strain

面临压力： having to do too much, dealing with a difficult problem

例句2

She has been under (a lot of) strain lately.

3: collapse

如果你想描述某种交易行为、某种系统或者某种观念等 (business/system/idea etc) “突然崩溃且不可逆”，就可以使用collapse这个表达 (a sudden failure in the way something works, so that it cannot continue).

例句3

His business was in danger of collapse.

4: put needed reforms on hold indefinitely

这里涉及一个put... on hold的表达，意思是“无限期搁置” (in a state or period of indefinite suspension)，比如“搁置计划”就可以表达为“put our plans on hold”。

5: sweep into

sweep into可以表示“迅速到达某一位置” (to reach some position decisively or swiftly)，比如“共和党迅速掌权”就可以表达成“The Republican Party swept into power.”，再比如描述一匹马“迅速后来居上”就可以是“The horse came from behind and swept into first place.”

6: intangibles, physical assets

无形资产，有形资产

7: intangibles, global gluts in industrial metals